A man has appeared in court accused of using a rock to smash his way into a Perth city centre café.
Daniel Whyte faces allegations he broke a window at the family-run Johnnie Orange diner, St Paul’s Square, on Tuesday.
It is alleged he stole money from the premises and broke a cooker “by unknown means”.
Whyte, of St Catherine’s Square, is also accused of targeting another local business on the same date.
Prosecutors allege the 28-year-old smashed a glass panel at Baxter Opticians, South Methven Street, and stole a quantity of money.
He is also accused of stealing toiletries from Boots, High Street, on July 27 and faces a further charge of possessing class A cocaine at Perth Royal Infirmary on August 23.
Whyte denied all charges when he appeared from custody before Sheriff Mark O’Hanlon.
He was remanded in custody with a trial set for September 14, and an intermediate hearing on August 24.
Badly-placed shot
Former Dundee and Scotland striker Leigh Griffiths, 32, has admitted endangering St Johnstone fans by booting a lit flare into a crowd of supporters. The player admitted acting in a culpable and reckless way by kicking the pyrotechnic device into a group of away fans while he was starring for Dundee at Dens Park.
Joyrider headbutted police officer
A Brechin man who took a stolen car on a joyride then careered it into a tree has been locked up.
Michael Smith, of Bridge Street, was subject to four bail orders and had no licence or insurance when he took the car from City Road on August 15.
He drove dangerously on the B9134 near to Netherton by reaching “excessive” speeds and carrying out “unsafe” manoeuvres.
He crossed the carriageway and forced other road users to take evasive action, before repeatedly striking a kerb and eventually careering off the road and into a tree.
Police took the 30-year-old to Ninewells and after midnight, he began shouting, swearing and making threats and then headbutted a police officer.
He admitted acting in a threatening or abusive manner and assault.
When he was taken to West Bell Street HQ, continued his tirade.
At Forfar Sheriff Court, sentenced was deferred for reports and Smith was remanded and banned from the road.
Midnight creeper
Creepy Aaron Nicol from Brechin, who sneaked into his ex-partner’s home and stood at her bedside watching her sleep, has been placed under supervision. Nicol also stood outside her bedroom late at night and repeatedly tapped on the window and even after he was remanded for his stalking campaign, plagued his former partner with abusive phone calls and death threats from inside Perth Prison.
‘Stab victim’s’ knife
A Dundee “stab victim” has been jailed after police found him running away from an early morning attack with a knife.
Steven Gill, 42, was brought from HMP Addiewell to Dundee Sheriff Court to admit possessing the weapon.
Police were called to an incident at Elders Court just before 8am on January 23 this year and saw Gill running away, bleeding badly.
He told officers he had been stabbed and police found a knife around a metre away.
Gill was the only person on the street and said it had been in his pocket for protection but he had thrown it away.
His solicitor Jane Caird said: “Effectively he has been assaulted on this occasion, but when he was assaulted he accepts he was in possession of a knife.
“He did not use that knife.
“He had been told a short number of hours before that there were a group of people looking for him to assault him.
“There is CCTV of the assault. He had significant injuries to the back of his head.
“Supposedly it was all over a phone.
“At that time, that was the only wat he felt he could deal with the matter.”
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael jailed Gill for 16 months, backdated to the remand date of January 31.
Vintage bike smash
A Fife driver told a court he thought he had killed a couple after crashing into their vintage motorbike. Ryan Hunter was found guilty after a jury trial of causing serious injuries to the pair on the A909 Kelty to Cowdenbeath road in September 2020.
T2 murderer reveals appeal
The gangland hitman who killed T2 Trainspotting star Bradley Welsh has told a sheriff he is appealing against his murder conviction.
Sean Orman was handed a life sentence for shooting dead the 28-year-old actor in Edinburgh.
He was told he must serve 28 years behind bars.
Orman appeared via video link at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted having an illicit SIM card at the city’s jail on April 16.
Sheriff Mark O’Hanlon asked for clarification about his previous convictions.
“Is it right you do not admit a conviction for murder and attempted murder,” he said.
Orman, representing himself from jail, replied: “No. I’m appealing it though.”
Fiscal depute Stuart Hamilton said the illegal SIM card was found inside a SPS-issued mobile phone, found under Orman’s bed during a routine cell search.
Orman said he had nothing more to say about his case.
Sheriff O’Hanlon sentenced Orman to six months imprisonment to run alongside his current sentence.
Orman was found guilty of murdering Mr Welsh on his door step in the capital’s west end area in 2019.
The judge, Lord Beckett, called the killing a ‘pre-meditated and meticulously planned assassination, the ultimate reasons for which remain unknown to the court.’
Cocaine crash
Cocaine-fuelled Alistair Birse, who caused catastrophic injuries to a motorist in a crash, has been jailed. He knocked his victim’s car down an embankment while he was almost three times over the drug-drive limit in rural Angus and she required to be cut free and have emergency surgery.
Long and winding road
A Glenrothes man drove carelessly on roads in and around his home town and failed to tell police he was carrying a blade.
Arron Somerville pled guilty to repeatedly driving a car too close to other vehicles, driving both too fast and too slow, on the wrong side of the road, and repeatedly swerving and striking and mounting the pavement.
His route took in Main Street, Thornton and various roads in Glenrothes including Woodside Way, Woodside Road, Warout Road, Caskieberran Drive, Caskieberran Road, the B969, Keith Drive and elsewhere on May 21 this year.
He also admitted driving without a licence and valid insurance.
Somerville pled guilty to a fourth charge of culpably and recklessly failing to disclose an open Stanley knife in his jacket pocket to a police officer who was searching him, when asked if he was in possession of anything sharp or dangerous.
The court heard that Somerville, of Mannering Court, Glenrothes, has previous convictions.
Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith deferred sentence on Somerville until September 29 to obtain background reports.
His bail has been continued.
Paedo-hunter was rapist
A serial rapist from Tayport, who once styled himself as a vigilante exposer of sex offenders, has been locked up for a decade. “Victim-blaming” Jody Petrie targeted three women while they were sleeping.
Fake ID
A Romanian national from Arbroath has been sentenced for having fake ID for over a decade.
Tiberiu Scaralet previously admitted having the fake Bulgarian driving licence at a hearing at Dundee Sheriff Court.
The illicit ID had been in use between September 2009 and December 2021.
The 35-year-old returned to the dock, aided by an interpreter, to be sentenced.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown sentenced Scaralet, of Townhead Road, to 120 hours of unpaid work within a year.
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